"You don’t talk to me like that," she said quietly. "And I’m not leaving without them."
"Maybe not as clueless as she acts, hmm?" Robert asked with a sneer. "Though I guess you don’t have to be a solar power engineer to know what a merciless man you are." He turned to Emily. "So, Curious George, didn’t you ever wonder how Alex here got to be where he is today?" Emily was silent. "No? But I bet you noticed that he didn’t exactly run with Lucy’s crowd, right? At least, not if Lucy could help it." Robert pointed his finger in Alex’s direction. "I’ve got to hand it to you; it was a little bit hard to figure out. You can be thorough too, can’t you, Mister Sheldon?"
"You’ll find out tomorrow."
Robert waved his finger up and down. "See, I’m pretty sure that by tomorrow you’re going to be doing way too much damage control to do anything to me."
"I’m patient too," Alex promised.
"I’ll be sure to wear my bulletproof vest, then." He turned back to Richard. "I guess all of you were born by the time he’d achieved his meteoric rise in the finance world. I know you were," Robert said softly. "In fact, we could say that Alex owes it all to you."
Richard looked at his mother, then Alex. "What is he talking about?"
"You knew Alex worked for your grandfather, right? The Hendrickson one? Apparently, old Gerry took quite a shine to young Mister Sheldon. He thought the boy had promise and potential. Thought he knew how to get things done, isn’t that right?" Alex didn’t say anything, but Miranda had never seen him turn red before now.
"Old man Hendrickson—he knew how to get things done too. He took a relatively modest inheritance in his twenties and multiplied it ten-fold by the time he was dead. But poor Gerry. His daughter was marrying an Abbot, and she didn’t really have the head for the business. Jim was very bright, but he didn’t have the heart for it. No, his passion was for science, for making things work. Because there, usually, if you try hard enough, you can make it work.
"But that’s not the way real life works, is it? Because the one thing Jim wanted was Lucy Bartolome, the golden girl. He’d been in love with her since they met in college, and he fell all over himself trying to get her. But she wouldn’t have any of it because Lucy played hard to get. That’s what they said. And she didn’t have to settle. She was a Bartolome. Better than that, she was a Leighton, one of the oldest families on the East Coast. Didn’t matter that Jim was brilliant or decent or even rich on his own. And because Jim really was decent, he walked away.
"Gerry, maybe, wasn’t so decent. Lucy marrying into his family—that was a good idea. And he knew that he should pursue a good idea. But he couldn’t convince her, and he couldn’t convince her father. He didn’t want to look desperate. So he turned to someone whom he was pretty sure could make the match." He opened his hand. "You want to tell the rest of this story, Alex, or should I just go on? I guarantee, you’ll sound better if you tell it."
Alex smiled. "You don’t know what you’re talking about, do you? You’re just guessing. Guesses—guts—they’re good up to a point, but then you’ve got to back it up. And you’ve got nothing."
"As I said, Mister Sheldon, I am very thorough. You had your chance. And you had your chance then too. Your first major investment. South Korea, wasn’t it? Not nearly as much money required as a domestic investment, but the returns would be amazing. It was a sure thing, at least for a little while. And you just knew it. So you went, hat in hand, and asked the old man for a loan. And you had every reason to think that he was going to say no, but he didn’t. He didn’t even say maybe. He said if. If you get Lucy Bartolome to marry my son." Robert cocked his head to the side. "How am I doing so far? Because you’re right. It’s all speculation. It’s all a string of guesses. But I do have something to back it up. The date that money was wired into your account was the very day Lucy Bartolome announced her engagement to Jim Hendrickson. And then more money was wired on the day of the wedding, and further, a big fat bonus the day Richard was born. Who knew matchmakers were paid so well—or is it pimps?"
Miranda shuddered. "Alex, what did you do?"
Alex shook his head. "Don’t listen to him, he’s twisting everything."
Richard took a deep breath. "Oh, God, Mom. Even then?" Lucy turned red. "How could you?"
Lucy sank back against the wall. Joanna looked at her, stricken. "I’m so sorry, Richard," she said softly.
"You piece of garbage," Richard said calmly to Alex. "What did my father do to you? That big house, all that money, all the people you move around like chess pieces, no matter who they are—was all of that worth my father’s life?"
Alex waited a moment before he spoke. "He was very much in love with your mother," he said almost apologetically. "I truly thought he’d be happy with her."
"How could he?" Richard bellowed. "You know—and you must have known even then—that would have been impossible!"
Robert waited a moment before he asked his question. "How did you figure it out, Mister Sheldon?"
"Figure out what?" Zainab piped up.
"It was Tom," Joanna answered before Alex could. "Tom told Alex."
Lucy shook with rage. "How, Jo? How did Tommy know?"
"Lucy, for God’s sake!" Joanna shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Was he not your brother? Did you not grow up in the same house with him? Did you really think it was a secret?"
"How do you know he knew?" Lucy asked defiantly.
Emily looked at Zainab. "Knew what?"
Joanna trembled with disgust. "Because he came to me, Lucy. Because he told me he knew, and he told me he’d tell everyone, including your father, if I didn’t do what he wanted." Zainab gasped. "So I did it, Luce. I did it to protect you." She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "But Tom decided that he was going to have a good laugh about it anyway, didn’t he, Alex? Lucky you."
~~~
Tom smirked. "You know the worst part of having a thing for Joanna all these years? She was Lucy’s best friend. They were always together."
"And Lucy never put in a good word for you?"
Tom laughed uncontrollably. Alex watched quietly, sipping his drink. "No, no she didn’t. She was pretty scornful about it, too. You know how she can be."
Alex shrugged. He didn’t know Lucy that well. He had always assumed that she must be different than she seemed. Like everyone else. "I suppose."
"Well, trust me. She can be a frosty little bitch when she wants to be. She actually told me more than once to stay away from her friend. Oh no, wait," Tom smiled again, like he was savoring a good joke. "I believe her exact words were, ‘Joanna is off-limits.’ Off-limits."
"I guess we can all be territorial about certain people sometimes," Alex offered, half to himself.
"Certain people—oh yeah. And Lucy is used to getting what she wants. She’s always been Dad’s favorite. Daddy’s little girl. Whatever. No skin off my back. Although I was pretty annoyed when he bought her that swanky condo as a graduation present, whereas I got a pat on the head that the house was going to be mine…one day. Thanks, Dad."
"It’s a nice house."
"I’m selling it as soon as Dad’s dead—I’ll let you know when it goes on the market."
"Gee, thanks."
"Anyway, anyway! I dropped by Lucy’s apartment once unannounced, and you should have seen how pissed she was. You’d have thought I’d just walked in on her selling secrets to the Russians or something. Never, ever drop in on her unannounced again, or she was going to tell the doorman to bar me permanently. I asked her what she had to hide, and she slapped me. She slapped me, Alex. That’s beneath her. And then I got curious."
"So what did you do?"
"So I pretended to leave and I waited to see who was there. Because someone had to be there for her to get that upset." Tom smirked again. "I waited over three hours, Alex."
"So who was it?"
"It was Joanna."
"Well you know, women like to talk sometimes."
Tom shook his head. "Al
ex, wake up! It was Joanna. She kissed Lucy goodnight when she left. For a long time."
It took over a minute for what Tom was saying to sink in. "What?" he asked at last. "Are you sure?"
"Trust me, I’ve never seen Lucy kiss anyone else like that before."
"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed, still shocked. "I guess that’s why she wanted her own apartment."
"You think?"
"So if Joanna and Lucy...how did you...?"
Tom winked. "Because Joanna is a very good ‘friend’, and she knows what Dad would do to Luce if he found out about her little love nest."
Alex was more impressed by Tom’s audacity than repulsed by his callousness. "You wanted her that bad, huh?"
"It was worth it." He smiled at the memory. "I’m pretty sure I was her first—you know, her real first."
"And how was it?"
"I’d go back for more, but she was really upset. She cried after—I think she even cried during. And she told me that if I ever touched her again she’d tell Lucy. And there we enter into an interesting conundrum, because Lucy could find plenty of ways to make my life difficult, no matter what I told Dad. She’s resourceful, if nothing else. So I think, at least for now, Miss Hazlett is going to be a one-shot deal."
~~~
"Oh my God," Jessie said. Mitch caught her as she started to fall. She pulled herself up and walked over to Alex. "That’s what it was, wasn’t it? That’s what you had on her, right? That’s what kept Michael out of prison when he almost raped me."
"Jessie," Alex stammered. "I needed to protect Michael."
Jessie slapped Alex across the face. Then she turned to Miranda. Jessie was so enraged that Miranda trembled at the sight of her. "Grow up already! You graduated from a rapist to a first-class blackmailer. He’s just a well-paid pimp. He isn’t your hero or anyone else’s, okay? He’s only out for himself!" Then she pushed past Alex and walked right up to her aunt. "And you! Welcome to the twenty-first century! It doesn’t matter anymore—certainly not enough to let someone like Alex or Michael or my father get away with everything they did!"
"It does still matter," Lucy said as she wept. As hated as Lucy had always been, not one person in the room enjoyed seeing her like this. "I know that every day. There is always something out there to remind me of how different it is, and different always means worse. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise."
"Don’t touch me," Miranda screamed at Alex, who stepped back. "What have you done? How could you?" Always the same question, and always the same silence. She turned on Robert. "Are you proud of yourself?"
"That’s an interesting question from someone with your history," Robert said indifferently. "Did you not marry the rapist in question?"
"Don’t you dare bring him up," Miranda said angrily. "Leave him out of your little circus."
"Hmm, another surprisingly smart move on your part," Robert said appreciatively. "Because if we talk too much about him, then everyone here might find out that you’re still seeing him."
Miranda laughed, then clapped her hands. "Bravo, Detective! It was fun while it lasted, but you just got it all wrong. Michael is on another continent, and unless you can fabricate something about how I’ve been jumping back and forth to Europe in the space of a day, you just lost your platform."
"What do you know? You bluff well, too. You know very well that he isn’t in Europe anymore. He hasn’t been for over a month. He’s here."
Miranda felt like the floor fell out from underneath her. "You’re lying."
"Don’t overplay your hand, sweetheart. I’ve seen you two in the library together, on the same street, and in that café right downstairs. Quite a few times there, I might add. Guess you didn’t pick up too many tips on hiding things from your new-old boyfriend over there."
Miranda rounded on Richard. "You promised me! You told me he wasn’t here."
Richard was equally shocked. "I had no idea, I swear to God. He wrote something about the beaches on the Riviera two days ago."
Emily grabbed Miranda and brought her over to a chair. "Congratulations, Bob. You’ve proven what an incredible stalker you make. I hate to agree with Alex, but as he said, you’ve got nothing. Are you investigating Jessie’s mother’s murder, or the creep sending her threatening notes? Doesn’t matter, because if you had anything you’d have told us."
"Maybe I just have my own way of doing things."
"Yeah?" Mitch asked. "That’s good, but I’m pretty sure your boss isn’t going to agree with any of this. And if Alex isn’t going to make that call tomorrow, I will."
"I really hope for your sake that you rethink that."
"Here’s something I learned in my criminal justice classes: threatening someone in front of witnesses never works out well, even if you are a cop."
"Yeah, we’ll see. But you’re wrong, fortunately. Because I do have something." He pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket. "Right here is the very first note Jessie received. Same poem as the first, and I believe the second, although no one turned that one in."
"What do you mean the very first?" Lucy said.
Miranda looked up at Jessie. "Boarding school," she said. "That was the package you got."
"Jessie’s roommate found it at the end of that year and turned it over to the headmaster. He didn’t think anything of it, but fortunately he’s a bit of a pack rat."
"How long have you known that?" Richard asked.
"A little over a month."
"And you’re just telling us now? And only after you got to play with all of us?" Richard was disgusted. "Mitch, you let me know when you’re calling this in, because I want to be there."
"Are you really sure you want to do that?" Robert asked. "Be careful how you answer—a lot’s riding on it."
"I’m not only calling," Mitch said, "I’m going to sit on this myself until I see that you’re kicked off the force. Hey, sounds like it runs in the family."
Robert smiled coldly. "And the same goes for you, Mister Hendrickson?"
"Keeping your job should be the least of your concerns right now."
"Too bad," Robert said softly. "Because I don’t think anyone is going to care about what you two have to say. I think they’re going to call it sour grapes, myself."
Emily couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. "Sour about what?"
"I told you I was thorough, Emily. I’m sorry they didn’t believe me." He looked at Zainab, calm and quiet. "How long have you been together now? Pushing three years? And he’s had his business for almost that long, right? Still struggling, but that’s a startup for you. He’s committed to that, though. But you...where’s your ring?"
"Detective Teague, that’s none of your business," Zainab said. "And I don’t think that has anything to do with your investigation."
"Maybe not directly," Robert conceded, looking at Richard. "But I needed to make sure that I understood all of you. So I’ve been watching. All of you. And you, Richard, you have been so fascinating. So serious, so dedicated. Such an adult, and I guess you have been for years really. Between your father’s untimely death and your mother’s complete lack of maternal instinct, I guess you’d have to be. But then there’s the other part. The guy we see before us stays at work until everyone else has gone. But the other guy—he leaves fifteen minutes after that. He gets into his car and drives to the South End. And he goes up to the same apartment at the same time for the same two hours. And then he comes down again and gets back into the car. By the time the car gets back to your house, it’s him again. Good old dependable Richard."
Zainab let go of Richard’s hand. He looked straight ahead. "Look at me Richard," she said. It wasn’t a demand. It wasn’t a surprise. "Please." He turned to her. He tightened his jaw. "Who is she? How long? Please, you tell me before he does."
He blinked, but only once. "Four months."
Zainab sighed. "Ever since I started my job." She took a deep breath. "Ever since it would have made sense." She waited a moment. "And now tell me her name."
; Emily, Miranda and Jessie already knew who it had to be. They all thought Zainab probably did too. But she deserved to hear him say it. "Sophie," he almost whispered. "Sophie Gorman."
"Of course."
Emily leapt over to Zainab. "You’re coming home with us tonight. Hellie will be really happy to see you. You can stay in the other bedroom, just until we sort this out, okay?" Zainab didn’t say anything, but by the way she let her weight fall onto her, Emily knew it was the right thing to do.
Jessie pounded Richard’s chest. "How could you?" she screamed. He didn’t move. "I thought you were better than everyone! The parents who died, the friends who don’t think before they act, everyone who’s out to screw themselves and everyone else! But you’re just like them!"
Zainab gently pulled Jessie away from Richard. "Jessie, please don’t do this to yourself. It’s going to be alright," she said. Jessie sobbed, heartbroken, as Zainab hugged her.
Robert looked at Zainab with the closest thing he had shown to remorse that whole evening. "As you can see," he said slowly to Richard, "I think a phone call from you will cut both ways tomorrow, but it’s up to you."
"You prick," Mitch said angrily. He loved Zainab too. "Don’t worry, I’ve got this."
Robert sighed. "Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. You think you’re safe, don’t you? Because if I’ve been following you around, I wouldn’t have seen anything except for a guy who goes to work early and comes home late, and in between doesn’t even flirt with his very attractive secretary. But there are other ways to follow you, and you should know that."
Emily looked at Mitch, and Mitch blinked. "What is he talking about?" Emily whispered.
"Emily, don’t do this now."
Robert clicked his tongue. "Sorry, councilor, but I think you had your chance. And it’s a shame, because you’re the one here with the most to lose. The job you worked so hard for, the pretty, hotheaded wife, the beautiful little baby girl, that nice new house you just bought. She’s just too damn curious. One of us is going to have to tell her. Who do you think it should be? I’ll give you the same warning I gave Alex."
The China Doll Page 10